Mikel Arteta guided his Arsenal side to victory over Manchester United in the Premier Leagueplaceholder image
Mikel Arteta guided his Arsenal side to victory over Manchester United in the Premier League | Getty Images
Man Utd were defeated 1-0 by Arsenal on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.
Mikel Arteta was full of praise for Manchester United after his Arsenal side secured a 1-0 away win at Old Trafford on the opening weekend of the Premier League. United were the better side for a large part of the match but paid the price for mistakes in both boxes as Riccardo Calafiori scored the only goal of the game.
United were inspired by recent additions Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, while fellow summer signing Benjamin Sesko looked lively when he was introduced from the bench. There was plenty of encouragement to take from the match, though there is also plenty of work to do if they are to challenge at the top of the table.
Arsenal can count themselves fortunate to escape Old Trafford with three points and after the match Arteta gave a glowing review of Ruben Amorim's side, who he believes are 'building something special' after their recent summer business.
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"Big, big result," Arteta said in his post-match press conference. "When you feel that they are building something special, a new signing that they want to keep on the season, in a good way, and you are able to come away with a win, I think I'm very happy for our team. Does that show just how determined the team is? Yes, because we showed it in a different way today.
"I think we did two things very well, one to take the set-piece and then react to mistakes. Some of them are necessary, some of them are unusual. But the way every single player reacted to that gives us the opportunity to win the game. If not, it's impossible. And that's about how we compete and how much we want to do so."
Speaking to Match of the Day after the defeat, Amorim gave his verdict on the performances of new signings Cunha and Mbeumo. "Everybody can understand they are very good players for that position. It didn't need a lot work to feel that is their position," he said.
"Sometimes you can look at the game in many ways. in the first half, Cunha has to go out because the centre backs are very strong. Then you have Sesko and you have a different type of player and that is important for me that we have players to play different games."
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